Recently I received a forwarded email from one my colleagues with the subject "Mind your table manners". A nice one explaining the basic table etiquette.
But after reading it, I started thinking, most of these business etiquette tips generally are alien to people who are not familiar with the western culture.
As an Indian who still gets confused with
Which hand should go for knife and which one for the fork,
I believe we have a set of our own table manners may be not in black and white like how the westerners do, but we do have certain right and wrong things when it comes to eating.
Most of the tips mentioned in the email sounded funny to me.
So I thought "How about making every point sound funny?"
Here is the mail and my comments are inline. Did not mean to offend. Read.. laugh and forget it.. :-)
(Forget not to leave your comment)
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It's important to make a good impression at mealtime too.
These are to ensure that everyone at the table enjoys the food and conversation to the fullest.
The guidelines below will give you a good idea of what to watch for.
1. Eat with a fork unless the food is meant to be eaten with fingers. Only babies eat with fingers.
My father still eats with hand, my grandpa too.. I am sure your grandpa also does the same. I am afraid, I have to call them babies from now ?!!! :-)
2. Don't stuff your mouth full of food, it looks gross, and you could choke.
In 14 years of school, I found more happiness in spending most of my lunch breaks in the school cricket ground than sitting and enjoying my food. Never did I worry about how gross my face looked when I stuffed food in AND interestingly, I never choked once :-)
3. Chew with your mouth closed. No one wants to be grossed out seeing food being chewed up or hearing it being chomped on. This includes no talking with your mouth full.
As it is really disgusting to watch some one doing this, you can use this as a trick to irritate your colleagues or customers if you want. Esp. if you don’t want them to be with you for lunch anymore, you can surely give it a try. Believe me, it works. :-)
4. Don't make any rude comments about any food being served. It will hurt someone's feelings.
Yes. U are right. When you are literally starving after a long day of work, and Pavithra serves you a nice plate of Andhra meals with a big beautiful cockroach on it, don’t ever try to make any rude comment. It might hurt the cockroach. :-)
5. Always say thank you when served something. Shows appreciation.
This is interesting. The one who serves me did not choose the best of the menu for me, neither did he actually prepare the food. What he serves was something I have chosen for me and some poor fellow standing next to the furnace, burning all day is responsible for the delicacy of the taste. Where comes d appreciation ? If you really want to appreciate the waiter, give him a couple more bucks in tips. Really makes him happy. He is not working for your appreciations. :-)
6. If the meal is not buffet style, then wait until everyone is served before eating. It shows consideration.
When you are served a piece of hot and spicy chicken kabab OR a savory piece of thandoori and if you wait for everyone else to be served, I would say you are not actually showing your consideration to the chicken. That’s bad! :-)
7. Eat slowly and don't gobble up the food. Someone took a long time to prepare the food, enjoy it slowly. Slowly means to wait about 5 seconds after swallowing before getting another forkful.
Sounds one of the most ridiculous rules of all - "The time spent on eating the meal must always be equivalent to the time spent preparing it".
Have you heard that it takes more than years to prepare a good wine, Man, that is scary. I got to keep sipping a cup of wine for an year?!! :-)
8. When eating rolls, break off a piece of bread before buttering. Eating a whole piece of bread looks tacky.
Isn’t that everyone around me having their own plates of food to look at? :-)
9. Don't reach over someone's plate for something. Politely ask that the item to be passed to you. Shows consideration.
Sounds funny. No comments.. :-)
10. Do not pick anything out of your teeth, it's gross. If it bothers you that bad, excuse yourself and go to the restroom to pick.
How about eating fish, esp. the sardines? I do this after almost every bite.
First of all, I am not going to stand up and announce everyone around me that I am gonna pick something from the tooth - U gotto find out a tactful way of doing this.
Second of all, It will be more unpleasant if I run into the restroom after every bite
Better take that darn thing, throw it away and reach for the next piece :-)
11. Always use a napkin to dab your mouth, which should be on your lap when not in use. Remember, dab your mouth only. Do not wipe your face or blow your nose with a napkin, both are gross. Excuse yourself from the table and go the restroom to do those things.
Oops... To the restroom again?? :-)
12. When eating at someone's home or a guest of someone at a restaurant, always thank the host and tell them how delicious it was, even if it wasn't. Again, someone took time, energy, and expense to prepare the food, so show your appreciation.
I tried doing this last time when I was at my friends house. The most horrible briyani I ever had in my life. Nobody liked it , but I said it is good - because "someone took time, energy, and expense to prepare the food, so show your appreciation" .
Know what? I had to eat almost 2 kgs of it till it was finished. Obvious what happened aftermath!!.. a horrible 2 days..
Have you heard of "Mr.Bean in a restaurant story"? :-)
More at
http://www.gomestic.com/Family/Basic-Table-Manners-for-Kids.520103
http://www.lahacal.org/gentleman/table.html
http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/Lifestyle/proper_table_manners.htm
http://quamut.com/quamut/etiquette_and_manners/page/table_manners.html
Still More?!!?? no.. please.. Enough is enough.. :-) Thanks
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Just A "Practical" thought
Have you ever felt so broken and disappointed when your thoughts, suggestions or proposals are proven worthless by someone with the reason that they are “practically impossible”.
Me: “I think we should do it this way.”
Moron: “Yeah…hum….but see, that is not practically possible”.
Me: “We could have suggested this option, we would have been in a better position”
Moron: “No. We did not do it because it did not seem to be practically possible”.
Moron: “Come on dude. you cant do all that.. Think Practically..”
Moron: “Let’s go with this practical approach alright?”
I often hear people saying this. For some reason this phrase has always made me thinking.
I could remember what happened when I was a kid, think it was second or third grade. It was a Tamil language class and my teacher had just finished explaining one of Bharathiyar’s poems that talks about the damage caused by the religion and caste systems to the country –
I was very much a passive listener throughout my school days (but always liked questions coming from the last row rebels and see how the teachers react to it,.. a different story though).
But this time I thought I will ask –
“If everyone knows the bad effects of the caste system – why have we kept the Community Certificate as one of the mandatory documents for the admission to the school?”
Sure this thought would have flashed in your mind at some point in your life.
This was what I got back from my teacher.
“Well.. this is expected.. My honest opinion is.. It is not practically possible. You will soon understand”.
I stood bemused. I think I am, still.
So whenever I hear someone says “practically”, I get swamped with a load of questions. You might think this is insane, but somehow these funny little thoughts get to my mind time to time.
If what we say is agreed to be correct and sensible by everyone, why is it not practically possible?
Are there two ways of thinking, a normal way and a practical way ?
Should I think twice before I make a decision once normally and then practically? If practical decisions are always correct, actually I don’t have to think normally.
If some theory is not practically possible why someone has to preach this in the first place?
Going a step further,
Are we sometimes trying to limit our thoughts and imaginations by saying they are “practically not possible”? Is it because we always want to play a safe game? Going by the proven theories always?
Small pox was practically impossible to cure until late 17th century.
Flying was practically impossible to humans till 1903.
Are we sometimes trying to use this as an excuse to justify what we did because what seemed practically possible was also easy to achieve?
When you are stuck at cross roads sometimes in your life, call it ethical dilemma, moral conflict or whatever, would you go by what your heart says or by what is proven to be the practical way.
Let’s cut to the chase now. Let’s ask the same old familiar-to-all question once again.
You are hurrying to office on one fine morning. Suddenly you see a person hit by a bus lying on the roadside. Sure he needs some helping hand. Also you know it will soon turn into a police case. Will you reach out to him and help?
I know a person who did so. He was driving down the road and saw a person lying severely injured. Everyone including the traffic police did not do anything but watching the scene. He got off from his vehicle, did not wait for anyone, took him to the hospital and admitted him. The victim was not dead but completely unconscious. This person who admitted him in the hospital, managed to inform the victim’s family members. What happened aftermath was a real twist in the tale.
The police came to the hospital, accused the person who actually saved the victims life that he was the one who committed the accident and filed a charge against him.
How is this? Do you believe this? You have to because this is the truth.
The reason for them to do so was to get the insurance money from this person and grab their pie. After being kicked back and forth between the police stations and court rooms for one whole year, nothing this person could do but request his insurance company to pay the amount. In fact at one point he had to swear in front of the jury that he was the one who actually did it. The worst thing this man would have ever imagined in his life after serving more than 30 years in a government job with utmost honesty, self discipline and dedication.
I don’t want to get into the theories about our corrupted system, law, jury, government etc, etc here.
But I couldn’t restrain myself from thinking,
“If that person had not reached out to the victim, he wouldn’t have gone through all the pain he suffered”.
I am not trying to say that one should not reach out to the helpless. In fact, I am not saying anything. I am not here to make a point. I would better leave it to the reader.
But when I told this to one of my best friends the other day. He goes
“That is pathetic. This should have never happened to him. But you know.. what I am thinking is… Sometimes we should think practically rather than thinking if something is right or wrong”.
I don’t have a word here. Completely baffled.
Now lets try to set a different mood with a different thought.
India has always had this pride to exhibit and teach a unique trait she possesses – “Unity in Diversity”.
We are unique because our country is multi lingual, multi cultural, multi-religious and multi-ethnic. Absolutely fascinating. No question on the “Diversity” part, but of late I started thinking about what precedes it – the “Unity”.
I know this doesn’t really feel good to talk about or think about but time to mull over the situation in hand.
Issues with the borders, sharing the river water, political and social differences, and problems in accepting each others language, culture and tradition between the states are as prevalent as that of two totally different countries. There have always been conflicts between northern states and southern states. Always been issues between rich and poor states. Take Karnataka –Tamilnadu Cauvery issue OR Jammu and Kashmir issue OR Belgaum border dispute OR the recent Maharashtra –Bihar problems and so on and so forth. We cannot get away with the excuses saying these are “common”, “small” or “impossible-to-resolve” problems. No they are not. These are the “real” problems need to be addressed and need to be addressed in the right way.
People from one state have a name in other states, some times funny but often sound derogatory. State politicians inflict their men against the neighbors for political gain. Most of the time, the central government has to simply watch the show.
Can I say “Unity in Diversity is something practically impossible?”
I think so. But think about it. Even if it is practically impossible to achieve, it is important for us to say that we practice it and be proud of it. But Why?
Because if we don’t, then the entire system would collapse.
This is the same case with any country.
People can be easily convinced and emotionally struck by the “practically impossible” words rather than definite action plans.
Take the example of “I have a dream” from Martin Luther King Jr. It was important for him to make the people believe from the bottom of their heart that there will definitely be a day when “the people will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character”. It was not thought of a practically possible one then. But these words were considered crucial to align people in one single line towards one single goal.
The words “Change” and “Hope” are another example of how “practically impossible” things can make history possible. Do you think these words convey any definite plan or promise?
No.
No one can change Washington upside down. No one can change every single American’s life. No one can change how other countries look at America.
Yes. Practically impossible.
But what can be made possible by repeating these words is binding the mass majority of public and make them march towards one common destiny.
So now, can I say “Unity in Diversity is something practically impossible. But the more you believe in it, better our country becomes”.
Is that a fair statement?
I am not sure. I don’t have an answer to that.
I am working in a software company where every now and then you get to hear people talking about 100% quality, 100% customer satisfaction, bug-free code and things like that. Guess what! It is universally accepted that “Bug –free code is something practically impossible to write”.
I wish I knew this when I was rattled by the questions from my boss after my first ever piece of code failed to run in production.
The closing note is that I have been asking these questions to myself for quite some time.Now I am putting my cards on the table.
Your comments are most welcome even if they are as insane as my questions. Hopefully at least you can come up with an answer to all these. But to me, even that sounds “Practically impossible”.
Me: “I think we should do it this way.”
Moron: “Yeah…hum….but see, that is not practically possible”.
Me: “We could have suggested this option, we would have been in a better position”
Moron: “No. We did not do it because it did not seem to be practically possible”.
Moron: “Come on dude. you cant do all that.. Think Practically..”
Moron: “Let’s go with this practical approach alright?”
I often hear people saying this. For some reason this phrase has always made me thinking.
I could remember what happened when I was a kid, think it was second or third grade. It was a Tamil language class and my teacher had just finished explaining one of Bharathiyar’s poems that talks about the damage caused by the religion and caste systems to the country –
I was very much a passive listener throughout my school days (but always liked questions coming from the last row rebels and see how the teachers react to it,.. a different story though).
But this time I thought I will ask –
“If everyone knows the bad effects of the caste system – why have we kept the Community Certificate as one of the mandatory documents for the admission to the school?”
Sure this thought would have flashed in your mind at some point in your life.
This was what I got back from my teacher.
“Well.. this is expected.. My honest opinion is.. It is not practically possible. You will soon understand”.
I stood bemused. I think I am, still.
So whenever I hear someone says “practically”, I get swamped with a load of questions. You might think this is insane, but somehow these funny little thoughts get to my mind time to time.
If what we say is agreed to be correct and sensible by everyone, why is it not practically possible?
Are there two ways of thinking, a normal way and a practical way ?
Should I think twice before I make a decision once normally and then practically? If practical decisions are always correct, actually I don’t have to think normally.
If some theory is not practically possible why someone has to preach this in the first place?
Going a step further,
Are we sometimes trying to limit our thoughts and imaginations by saying they are “practically not possible”? Is it because we always want to play a safe game? Going by the proven theories always?
Small pox was practically impossible to cure until late 17th century.
Flying was practically impossible to humans till 1903.
Are we sometimes trying to use this as an excuse to justify what we did because what seemed practically possible was also easy to achieve?
When you are stuck at cross roads sometimes in your life, call it ethical dilemma, moral conflict or whatever, would you go by what your heart says or by what is proven to be the practical way.
Let’s cut to the chase now. Let’s ask the same old familiar-to-all question once again.
You are hurrying to office on one fine morning. Suddenly you see a person hit by a bus lying on the roadside. Sure he needs some helping hand. Also you know it will soon turn into a police case. Will you reach out to him and help?
I know a person who did so. He was driving down the road and saw a person lying severely injured. Everyone including the traffic police did not do anything but watching the scene. He got off from his vehicle, did not wait for anyone, took him to the hospital and admitted him. The victim was not dead but completely unconscious. This person who admitted him in the hospital, managed to inform the victim’s family members. What happened aftermath was a real twist in the tale.
The police came to the hospital, accused the person who actually saved the victims life that he was the one who committed the accident and filed a charge against him.
How is this? Do you believe this? You have to because this is the truth.
The reason for them to do so was to get the insurance money from this person and grab their pie. After being kicked back and forth between the police stations and court rooms for one whole year, nothing this person could do but request his insurance company to pay the amount. In fact at one point he had to swear in front of the jury that he was the one who actually did it. The worst thing this man would have ever imagined in his life after serving more than 30 years in a government job with utmost honesty, self discipline and dedication.
I don’t want to get into the theories about our corrupted system, law, jury, government etc, etc here.
But I couldn’t restrain myself from thinking,
“If that person had not reached out to the victim, he wouldn’t have gone through all the pain he suffered”.
I am not trying to say that one should not reach out to the helpless. In fact, I am not saying anything. I am not here to make a point. I would better leave it to the reader.
But when I told this to one of my best friends the other day. He goes
“That is pathetic. This should have never happened to him. But you know.. what I am thinking is… Sometimes we should think practically rather than thinking if something is right or wrong”.
I don’t have a word here. Completely baffled.
Now lets try to set a different mood with a different thought.
India has always had this pride to exhibit and teach a unique trait she possesses – “Unity in Diversity”.
We are unique because our country is multi lingual, multi cultural, multi-religious and multi-ethnic. Absolutely fascinating. No question on the “Diversity” part, but of late I started thinking about what precedes it – the “Unity”.
I know this doesn’t really feel good to talk about or think about but time to mull over the situation in hand.
Issues with the borders, sharing the river water, political and social differences, and problems in accepting each others language, culture and tradition between the states are as prevalent as that of two totally different countries. There have always been conflicts between northern states and southern states. Always been issues between rich and poor states. Take Karnataka –Tamilnadu Cauvery issue OR Jammu and Kashmir issue OR Belgaum border dispute OR the recent Maharashtra –Bihar problems and so on and so forth. We cannot get away with the excuses saying these are “common”, “small” or “impossible-to-resolve” problems. No they are not. These are the “real” problems need to be addressed and need to be addressed in the right way.
People from one state have a name in other states, some times funny but often sound derogatory. State politicians inflict their men against the neighbors for political gain. Most of the time, the central government has to simply watch the show.
Can I say “Unity in Diversity is something practically impossible?”
I think so. But think about it. Even if it is practically impossible to achieve, it is important for us to say that we practice it and be proud of it. But Why?
Because if we don’t, then the entire system would collapse.
This is the same case with any country.
People can be easily convinced and emotionally struck by the “practically impossible” words rather than definite action plans.
Take the example of “I have a dream” from Martin Luther King Jr. It was important for him to make the people believe from the bottom of their heart that there will definitely be a day when “the people will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character”. It was not thought of a practically possible one then. But these words were considered crucial to align people in one single line towards one single goal.
The words “Change” and “Hope” are another example of how “practically impossible” things can make history possible. Do you think these words convey any definite plan or promise?
No.
No one can change Washington upside down. No one can change every single American’s life. No one can change how other countries look at America.
Yes. Practically impossible.
But what can be made possible by repeating these words is binding the mass majority of public and make them march towards one common destiny.
So now, can I say “Unity in Diversity is something practically impossible. But the more you believe in it, better our country becomes”.
Is that a fair statement?
I am not sure. I don’t have an answer to that.
I am working in a software company where every now and then you get to hear people talking about 100% quality, 100% customer satisfaction, bug-free code and things like that. Guess what! It is universally accepted that “Bug –free code is something practically impossible to write”.
I wish I knew this when I was rattled by the questions from my boss after my first ever piece of code failed to run in production. The closing note is that I have been asking these questions to myself for quite some time.Now I am putting my cards on the table.
Your comments are most welcome even if they are as insane as my questions. Hopefully at least you can come up with an answer to all these. But to me, even that sounds “Practically impossible”.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Amazing "R" Factor
Have you ever wondered who could have come up with the concept of religion, Angels, Demons and the myths around them– even if someone did, how in the world he or she did successfully manage to spread this mystical theory to the rest of the world? Did this happen in one day? One year? Probably a few centuries?
Was that some kind of a revelation , some kind of a lightening that hit human minds one dark moon night ? Was it a slow and steady dissemination of beliefs, thoughts and conspiracies? Gods, ghosts, beliefs, rituals- who created all these? Where did they come from?
Have you ever given a serious thought – why this world is so divided and every nation tries to safeguard itself from others? Every state ,every race and every community tries to preserve its identity, boasts its beliefs and practices.
Every man tries to own a piece of land or house and acts as a guardian for himself and his family. Who would have come up this idea of owning a territory in the first place ? Why someone had to draw a border around him and announce himself to be the owner of it? Had there been no national boundaries, the entire world would have been one common place for all human beings. Why did not this strike us? What was the reason Alexander the Great had to conquer every single country in the world? What could have possibly driven him to do so? Why were there two horrifying world wars? Why America had to invade Iraq?
Why does one kill another one for living? Why everyone tries to dominate others?
Imagine this-
You are surfing youtube. You come across a horrifying video that shows – how a hostage was brutally murdered by a terrorist somewhere in a desert in Afghanistan– Or a video which shows a real blast in a busy market in India– Or one that shows a devastating earth quake in Japan– or a horrifying accident captured on a traffic camera in America. The video might start with a warning saying –
"Don’t watch this if you are light hearted or weak"
Allright. First of all you don’t know if you are light hearted or not.. But you can feel something inside you that says – “lets give it a try my friend!!”. cant you?
Okay. Now you are watching it – the murder, the earthquake, the bomb blast, the accident – you are seeing people killed , wounded , blooded and horrified.
Its over now.
You feel sorry for them. Of course you do. Because you are a human being after all.
But did you just feel someone deep inside your heart – may be so deep that you had to sharpen your ears before listening– keeps urging you – “C’mon see it again.. click that replay button now… lets see it once again.. its exciting”…
Ever wondered why is this happening?
What could be the driving force for a serial killer? Why human beings are possessive on their loved ones? Some times or.. I should say most of the times, it takes people to their extremes. How many Kingdoms have crumbled down, how many people have killed others, how many peopled have killed themselves in the name of “LOVE”.
On a day off, while lying on a sofa after a nice meal, when you don’t have anything to do, have you ever thought about counting your breaths for a while?. Have you tried stop breathing for sometime to see how long you can hold up?
Did this thought come across your mind- what inside me that keeps the clock ticking? Who controls my breathing? Who makes me sleep?.
What exactly the time in seconds, I slept last night- do I remember it ? Can I try to recollect?... Or… will I be able to figure this out tonight?
Here comes the answer to all these questions. The “R complex” or a “Reptilian brain” - part of the human brain, commonly seen in the vertebrates – something we all inherited from the reptile world during the course of the evolution. George Carlin talks about this in many of his shows – but mostly to add up more fun to his jokes.
The evolution is something that most of us have studied in schools. But not until recently this topic got my attention and made me do some readings on it. There are quite a few theories revolving around this topic and few are most discussed and few are controversial.
One popular theory accepted by most scientists is MacLean’s “Triune Brain Model”
The human brain, as per the “Triune Theory” consists of three parts.
1. The Archipallium or “R Complex” or the Reptillian Brain carries the traits of the reptile world and mostly unchanged in the evolution process. Very similar to the ones seen in snakes and lizards. The way this brain looks at life is simple – “Survival comes first even if it costs a killing”. This guy never sleeps even when you sleep and controls the hearbeat and breating. Very territorial and very aggressive – this part of the brain believes in what its ancestors believed in without asking any question – rituals, religion, beliefs and superstitions.
2. The limbic system ,which is the middle part of the brain, is responsible for emotions and memories.
3. The Neocartex is the intellectual part of the brain commonly seen in the primates. The traits which are exclusive for the primates such as rational thinking, speech and language.
There is always a battle between these three brains and who wins the battles is what decides the behavior exhibited by a person. Very interesting indeed.
Now we know, how we manage to say a big “Hi..” with a beautiful smile to the boss while thinking “I will beat this devil one day!!” .
Was that some kind of a revelation , some kind of a lightening that hit human minds one dark moon night ? Was it a slow and steady dissemination of beliefs, thoughts and conspiracies? Gods, ghosts, beliefs, rituals- who created all these? Where did they come from?
Have you ever given a serious thought – why this world is so divided and every nation tries to safeguard itself from others? Every state ,every race and every community tries to preserve its identity, boasts its beliefs and practices.
Every man tries to own a piece of land or house and acts as a guardian for himself and his family. Who would have come up this idea of owning a territory in the first place ? Why someone had to draw a border around him and announce himself to be the owner of it? Had there been no national boundaries, the entire world would have been one common place for all human beings. Why did not this strike us? What was the reason Alexander the Great had to conquer every single country in the world? What could have possibly driven him to do so? Why were there two horrifying world wars? Why America had to invade Iraq?
Why does one kill another one for living? Why everyone tries to dominate others?
Imagine this-
You are surfing youtube. You come across a horrifying video that shows – how a hostage was brutally murdered by a terrorist somewhere in a desert in Afghanistan– Or a video which shows a real blast in a busy market in India– Or one that shows a devastating earth quake in Japan– or a horrifying accident captured on a traffic camera in America. The video might start with a warning saying –
"Don’t watch this if you are light hearted or weak"
Allright. First of all you don’t know if you are light hearted or not.. But you can feel something inside you that says – “lets give it a try my friend!!”. cant you?
Okay. Now you are watching it – the murder, the earthquake, the bomb blast, the accident – you are seeing people killed , wounded , blooded and horrified.
Its over now.
You feel sorry for them. Of course you do. Because you are a human being after all.
But did you just feel someone deep inside your heart – may be so deep that you had to sharpen your ears before listening– keeps urging you – “C’mon see it again.. click that replay button now… lets see it once again.. its exciting”…
Ever wondered why is this happening?
What could be the driving force for a serial killer? Why human beings are possessive on their loved ones? Some times or.. I should say most of the times, it takes people to their extremes. How many Kingdoms have crumbled down, how many people have killed others, how many peopled have killed themselves in the name of “LOVE”.
On a day off, while lying on a sofa after a nice meal, when you don’t have anything to do, have you ever thought about counting your breaths for a while?. Have you tried stop breathing for sometime to see how long you can hold up?
Did this thought come across your mind- what inside me that keeps the clock ticking? Who controls my breathing? Who makes me sleep?.
What exactly the time in seconds, I slept last night- do I remember it ? Can I try to recollect?... Or… will I be able to figure this out tonight?
Here comes the answer to all these questions. The “R complex” or a “Reptilian brain” - part of the human brain, commonly seen in the vertebrates – something we all inherited from the reptile world during the course of the evolution. George Carlin talks about this in many of his shows – but mostly to add up more fun to his jokes.
The evolution is something that most of us have studied in schools. But not until recently this topic got my attention and made me do some readings on it. There are quite a few theories revolving around this topic and few are most discussed and few are controversial.
One popular theory accepted by most scientists is MacLean’s “Triune Brain Model”
The human brain, as per the “Triune Theory” consists of three parts.
1. The Archipallium or “R Complex” or the Reptillian Brain carries the traits of the reptile world and mostly unchanged in the evolution process. Very similar to the ones seen in snakes and lizards. The way this brain looks at life is simple – “Survival comes first even if it costs a killing”. This guy never sleeps even when you sleep and controls the hearbeat and breating. Very territorial and very aggressive – this part of the brain believes in what its ancestors believed in without asking any question – rituals, religion, beliefs and superstitions.
2. The limbic system ,which is the middle part of the brain, is responsible for emotions and memories.
3. The Neocartex is the intellectual part of the brain commonly seen in the primates. The traits which are exclusive for the primates such as rational thinking, speech and language.
There is always a battle between these three brains and who wins the battles is what decides the behavior exhibited by a person. Very interesting indeed.
Now we know, how we manage to say a big “Hi..” with a beautiful smile to the boss while thinking “I will beat this devil one day!!” .
Monday, February 9, 2009
Influence of media on Indian politics
The journey of the media in India dates back to the days of the freedom movement. It would never be exaggerating to say that Mahathma’s ‘Indian Opinion’ , Aurobindo’s ‘Navashakti’, Bharathiyar’s ‘Swadesamithran’, etc, etc were considered to be the real threats to the British rulers during the independence struggle. The media in India, just like in any other developing or a developed nation of this world has always deeply connected with the political system of our country.
The technological advancement in the communication domain brought into the society what has become an indispensable part of every house, the television. Doordarshan, the public television network started its broadcasting in 1965. The arrival of cable television and private broadcasters paved way to a great paradigm shift.
A significant percentage of Indian population today enjoys a great variety of television channels, satellite radios and internet. Most of the daily newspapers have already made themselves available in electronic form for the internet users- thanks to the latest Information and Techonology tsunami. The rapid growth in the media in last 20 years has created an immense competition among the players which has its own payoffs. The common critique about the media in the recent past is that the television channels and the newspapers have started moving away from playing a critical role for the goodness of the nation to being a mere entertainers. While partially agreeing with this vox populi, I would also like to say that it is we, the people, who decide what is interesting and what is not. We should accept the fact that there are certain things that we cannot avoid.
We might skip the news on a recent satellite launch and Editorial talking about the infiltration, to quickly move to the last page of a daily to see how much Sachin scored against Australia the last night. Or keep surfing the channels in TV to get on time for the “Indian Idol” while not worrying too much about “The Breaking news” or “The Prime time”. This is completely understandable but, again, it is important for us to realize that it is WE who make a program or a channel a successful one or otherwise.
One of the episodes of the popular talk show “We the people” aired in NDTV right after the Mumbai massacre is something I came across recently which stayed in my mind for a long time. Everybody had different emotions to share on the show and different opinions on the unbelievable attack to put down. But what I believe was really an eye opener was, if not all, at least most of the viewers must have realized that there lies a piece of job, a need for a sense of responsibility and a necessity for an immediate action and more importantly an element of danger in front of every single Indian. It was really thought provoking when a celebrity said he would never ever complaint the security checks even if he had to wait in queues in airport for hours. The other touching part of this program was when a taxi driver, happened to be a Muslim, talked about how his family became the victim of terrorism in various tragic incidents. Our media has been our vehicle to carry our stands and opinions to the rest of the world, more than that, to a common man sitting and listening to a radio somewhere deep in a deserted village – and my opinion is, we have done a decent job in achieving this over last two decades.
Having said that, there is no question that the recent trend in media has made itself look what I think nasty and often unacceptable. The private television channels and radios owned or supported directly and indirectly by the political parties have done a great damage to the public respect on the media. It is certainly obvious that this situation prevails even in developed nations such as America. We all know which political party the CNN supports for and which one the Fox channel endorses. But the difference here is, when it comes to a real problem facing a common man or working class people or certain industries or underprivileged communities or women, the very same channels which are viewed as rivals, come together and try to shed some light on the details of the issue to help the government solving the problem rather than making it even bigger and harder to handle.
Is it not shameful that we see bunch of thugs mobilized and motivated by the political parties brutalizing the news reporters and burning the press offices? Is this how our great ancestors perceived our democracy would be? Is this what Gandhis, Nethajis and Patels expected us to do with the freedom they hard-fought for? Any Indian who watches these embarrassing events would agree that we, as a nation stand an example for how badly and improperly a nation can handle the democracy.
One might think that imposing rules, standardizations and regulations on media would help earn the credibility back. I think this would make a very insignificant change and often adverse effects. Any restriction imposed on media and press will have its own repercussions.” A complete freedom of press” is a vital aspect of any democracy – something that we cannot compromise for anything. The current situation, in my opinion, will only change when the channels such as NDTV, CNN IBN which provides public with unbiased news and views should start penetrating the regional languages and state politics. People with astute knowledge on political and social sciences, with the ability to discuss and provide solutions for our deep rooted political problems should come forward and enlighten the common public, more than anything else, a few sensible leaders who can turn the tables and set things right.
Fingers crossed!!
The technological advancement in the communication domain brought into the society what has become an indispensable part of every house, the television. Doordarshan, the public television network started its broadcasting in 1965. The arrival of cable television and private broadcasters paved way to a great paradigm shift.
A significant percentage of Indian population today enjoys a great variety of television channels, satellite radios and internet. Most of the daily newspapers have already made themselves available in electronic form for the internet users- thanks to the latest Information and Techonology tsunami. The rapid growth in the media in last 20 years has created an immense competition among the players which has its own payoffs. The common critique about the media in the recent past is that the television channels and the newspapers have started moving away from playing a critical role for the goodness of the nation to being a mere entertainers. While partially agreeing with this vox populi, I would also like to say that it is we, the people, who decide what is interesting and what is not. We should accept the fact that there are certain things that we cannot avoid.
We might skip the news on a recent satellite launch and Editorial talking about the infiltration, to quickly move to the last page of a daily to see how much Sachin scored against Australia the last night. Or keep surfing the channels in TV to get on time for the “Indian Idol” while not worrying too much about “The Breaking news” or “The Prime time”. This is completely understandable but, again, it is important for us to realize that it is WE who make a program or a channel a successful one or otherwise.
One of the episodes of the popular talk show “We the people” aired in NDTV right after the Mumbai massacre is something I came across recently which stayed in my mind for a long time. Everybody had different emotions to share on the show and different opinions on the unbelievable attack to put down. But what I believe was really an eye opener was, if not all, at least most of the viewers must have realized that there lies a piece of job, a need for a sense of responsibility and a necessity for an immediate action and more importantly an element of danger in front of every single Indian. It was really thought provoking when a celebrity said he would never ever complaint the security checks even if he had to wait in queues in airport for hours. The other touching part of this program was when a taxi driver, happened to be a Muslim, talked about how his family became the victim of terrorism in various tragic incidents. Our media has been our vehicle to carry our stands and opinions to the rest of the world, more than that, to a common man sitting and listening to a radio somewhere deep in a deserted village – and my opinion is, we have done a decent job in achieving this over last two decades.
Having said that, there is no question that the recent trend in media has made itself look what I think nasty and often unacceptable. The private television channels and radios owned or supported directly and indirectly by the political parties have done a great damage to the public respect on the media. It is certainly obvious that this situation prevails even in developed nations such as America. We all know which political party the CNN supports for and which one the Fox channel endorses. But the difference here is, when it comes to a real problem facing a common man or working class people or certain industries or underprivileged communities or women, the very same channels which are viewed as rivals, come together and try to shed some light on the details of the issue to help the government solving the problem rather than making it even bigger and harder to handle.
Is it not shameful that we see bunch of thugs mobilized and motivated by the political parties brutalizing the news reporters and burning the press offices? Is this how our great ancestors perceived our democracy would be? Is this what Gandhis, Nethajis and Patels expected us to do with the freedom they hard-fought for? Any Indian who watches these embarrassing events would agree that we, as a nation stand an example for how badly and improperly a nation can handle the democracy.
One might think that imposing rules, standardizations and regulations on media would help earn the credibility back. I think this would make a very insignificant change and often adverse effects. Any restriction imposed on media and press will have its own repercussions.” A complete freedom of press” is a vital aspect of any democracy – something that we cannot compromise for anything. The current situation, in my opinion, will only change when the channels such as NDTV, CNN IBN which provides public with unbiased news and views should start penetrating the regional languages and state politics. People with astute knowledge on political and social sciences, with the ability to discuss and provide solutions for our deep rooted political problems should come forward and enlighten the common public, more than anything else, a few sensible leaders who can turn the tables and set things right.
Fingers crossed!!
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